Here’s all the books I’ve been sent this December. Which ones do you like the sound of? And don’t miss your chance to win THREE books in my YouTube giveaway. Winner announced on the 14th January 2018 on my YouTube page.

I’m so excited to say the Follow Me paperback has been released early exclusively in Tesco stores up and down the country now. Just in time for Christmas! Grab it for the social media and/or crime thriller lover in your life, and yourself. Go on, you deserve it: every little helps….

‘A very contemporary nightmare, delivered with panache’ ~ The Independent

‘We’ve been waiting for a novel that shows just how creepy and scary social media actually is and this is it. Angela Clarke knows exactly which buttons to press. #creepedmeout’ ~ Tania Carver (Brennan & Esposito Series)

Okay, I’m going to just come out and say it: I need to stop reading books that are halfway through a series. I was drawn to Sophie Hannah’s The Telling Error because, among other things, its plot involves secret online personas, Twitter spats and, well, the Internet. Oh, how I love the Internet. But my Internet-based attraction ignored that The Telling Error is part of the successful Culver Valley Crime series. So, as I have experienced before with books read out of sequence, I found this slow to get into. I don’t have the character investment those familiar with the series presumably do. I also found there to be a confusing (and possibly deliberately so) number of characters. As I read this on a Kindle I really wished I had the real deal in my hands, in order to flick back and check who was who.

That said, once my brain had caught up I found this to be a gripping and darkly comic tale. When a key character revealed the reason for their dissatisfaction with their partner I genuinely laughed out loud. Hannah has clearly had a lot of fun writing this and, (once I’d really got stuck in), the reader is in on the joke.

Laughs aside, there is genuine fear and apprehension to be found in these pages, and Hannah’s analysis of the human character feels uncomfortably like the ugly truth. (Please note this book doesn’t contain overly gruesome detail of dead bodies: always a plus in my eyes!) An interesting premise for existing fans, but new arrivals may be better starting at the beginning of the Culver Valley series.

Heart Shaped Bruise is a cracking Young Adult Crime/Adult Crime crossover. This is the tense angst-driven story of 17-year-old Emily Koll who, for reasons that become clear, adopted a different name and infiltrated the life of 16-year-old Juliet Shaw (who happens to have stabbed Emily’s father). It’s a brilliant premise.

Please note if you are buying this for your teen there is some swearing, some underage drinking and smoking, and brief mentions of sex (though there’s nothing graphic and everything happens ‘off page’). There are also some hefty themes of: media manipulation, anger management, living up to your parents’ expectations, first love, loss, suicide, and (minimal and not gratuitous) violence.

Written as if Emily’s journal while in Archway Young Offenders Institution, this desperate smear of emotions pulled me toward the revelation of Emily’s darkest secret in two sittings. The big twist comes brutal and swift (even though I have to confess I’d guessed what it would be. Don’t read too much into that: as a writer I understand the ebb and flow of plot. I also spot seemingly unnecessary sentences that have been left in for plot purposes which would otherwise have been edited out of a tightly written text like this).

Byrne’s writing style is gripping and occasionally packs real punch. I shall remember this sentence forever: ‘The moment I’d had enough of flicking matches at her and finally set light to everything she had’.

A riveting read for adults, young and mature alike, this book leaves a stain after it’s finished. Much like a bruise that takes time to heal.

Make the most of the last Bank Holiday weekend of summer, and the year, and grab yourself a good book.

For intellectual posing by the pool or in the park:

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

Forget Fifty Shades of Grey, the Orange Prize winner Madeline Miller will raise your temperature with this story about the love between Achilles and Patroclus (yes, they’re both men). A tenderly written, beautifully described re-telling of a tale that appeared in Homer’s The Illiad. The story runs in a golden blur across the sand like it’s eponymous hero; and despite knowing what ultimately happens, the book never loses its pace or tension. I became so entwined and invested in Patroclus’ and Achilles’ destiny I couldn’t put this down. I kept reading till the early hours of the morning before snivelling into a pack of tissues. Stunning.

For making you appreciate holidaying with your family isn’t so bad:

Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

First, let me assure you Jeanette Winterson’s autobiographical Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? isn’t the depressing tear-fest you might fear. Then let me tell you that it is, at times, harrowing. You cannot read the life story of a girl who was abandoned at birth, adopted by a borderline poverty-stricken family, abused by her religious zealot adoptive Mother and rejected for being a lesbian, without expecting a few tears. But there is more than misery in this memoir. There is survival and hope. Winterson is a strong woman, a strong writer and this is a book to make you value your life.

For the day after murder on the dance floor:

The Fall by Claire McGowan

This is a murder mystery with a difference. It’s not just the victim who meets a sticky demise; the middle class dream is butchered too. McGowan joyfully destroys every spoil and sparkle of Charlotte, her spoilt protagonist, when a week before her £40K wedding her banker boyfriend is accused of murder. Charlotte must seek help from unlikely sources: Keisha, an angry woman with a potentially deadly secret, and Hegarty, the police officer who arrested her fiancé. I didn’t know crime could be this funny.

For reading on your Kindle, if you’re over the age of 21:

Diary of a Chav: Trainers v Tiaras by Grace Dent

Technically this is a young adult novel, but don’t let that put you off. Dent nails the language, life and dreams of her Chav protagonist Shiraz Bailey Wood, from Goodmayes Estate, Essex with her trademark humour. But far from ending up the joke of the book, Shiraz is a hilarious, intelligent young woman you really root for. This is a stealthily clever read, which made me re-examine my own prejudices as well as laugh so much my organic herbal tea came out my nostrils. But be warned: there are six books in this series, and once I started I had to read them all. Worth a cheeky download, innit.